As a state, officially, Colorado has had 100 fewer years than New York to develop its food culture. Consider that when you consider this state recently joining New York in gaining a prestigious, culinary recognition that only four other states and cities across America have gained — all older or much older than the Centennial State.

Welcome to the Michelin club, Colorado.

This summer, it was announced the French-rooted guide would add the state to a short list of food destinations in the U.S. Inspectors have previously bestowed coveted stars — one, two or three — to restaurants in California, Florida, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Now Michelin inspectors have fanned out across this state in search of star-worthy restaurants to enlighten travelers. Those are travelers searching for the finest of the finest.

Colorado Tourism Office director Timothy Wolfe counted his staff “thrilled” by the announcement.

“Colorado residents have long enjoyed the expanding food scene of our incredibly talented chefs, who bring locally harvested ingredients to life,” he said in a statement. “The Michelin Guide will further elevate Colorado as a global dining destination, serving a variety of flavors with the authentically friendly attitude that can only be found in Colorado.”

Yes, young and scrappy Colorado has caught up fast to the gastronomic world.

Since 2020, our Craving Colorado series has sought to capture the culinary character of the state. Our conclusion, in short: the scene is true to Colorful Colorado.

We admit we haven’t so much been focused on the finest of the finest. No doubt, Michelin inspectors will find elevated gourmet to match the mountainous atmosphere. No place does aprés quite like this state’s resort towns.

But with Craving Colorado, our focus has mostly been elsewhere. On icons, yes — how could we ignore the birthplace of the slopper or Denver’s oldest restaurant specializing in wild game — but also on lesser-known nooks.

Places standing for home, or reminding us of home in ever-changing communities. Places of traditions refusing to fade. Places that leave us with food stories, yes, but more so stories of who we are as Coloradans.

Coloradans are delighting in the return of a strange pride and joy this year with the rebirth of Casa Bonita. We go not to eat as much as we go to simply be there, to watch divers in a big, pink palace that feels uniquely Colorado, colorful indeed.

Equally colorful is the craft beer scene. It’s no wonder the industry’s biggest party, the Great American Beer Festival, finds itself every year in Denver.

But dare we overlook the state’s wine. Who says we can’t grow grapes where winter bears down? A vast, vibrant industry thrives in Palisade, thrives alongside the peach orchards. Peaches are among the legendary crops here, reminding us every harvest of our Colorado life, the sweet life.

It is sweetness thanks to farming families who have stood for generations, who have stood the test of drought and freezes. They represent the persevering, pioneering spirit that built this state.

It is a spirit found across the food scene. It was tested like never before during the pandemic.

And yet through the hardship, we found Ken and Lisa Gonzales sticking firm to a selfless mission in the San Luis Valley. At All-Gon Restaurant & Pizzeria, their little eatery often passed along U.S. 160 in Fort Garland, the food identity was hard to pinpoint between the Mexican fare and pizza.

The identity was otherwise clear: “We think of this as our mission field,” Lisa told us.

In the hardest times, she and Ken said they had increased their daily portion of sales to help workers and families in need. The couple said they had increased the number of homes where they were delivering free meals.

Nothing like that green chili to lift the spirit. And on the opposite side of the state, in the little town of Severance, nothing like a basket of Rocky Mountain oysters to brighten the day.

The cringe-worthy delicacy to some has quaint meaning at Bruce’s Bar and Restaurant. It’s believed bulls’ fried private parts have been tradition since the 1960s, when it seemed livestock were much more around town.

“The town’s turning into the suburbs,” a local told us over a cold beer. “But Bruce’s still holds onto that old Severance feel. It’s our home away from home.”

South in Sedalia, we found a group of old-timers gathered around for their regular burgers and booze at Bud’s Cafe & Bar, the staple since 1948.

These were men who were kids back then. They were telling stories of riding horseback into the bar and shooting rattlesnakes out back. Outside, the pastures they knew were gone, overtaken by cookie-cutter homes and shopping centers. But the steamed burgers were the same as always, delicious.

We’ve eaten a lot of burgers on the road. A standout: Lucy’s Burger Bar, “Denver’s Home of the Original Juicy Lucy, est. 2021.”

The founder, Michelle “Meesh” McGlone, does a lot of explaining to people unfamiliar with the burger of her native Minnesota: The cheese is inside the beef, gooey and ready to ooze upon breach.

Lucy’s Burger Bar is an unlikely story, a fast success tale of a woman who had just left behind a career in dancing. “There was never anything that was gonna stop me,” McGlone told us.

It’s another familiar storyline in Colorado’s food scene: outsiders bringing a slice of home.

In Broomfield, we delighted in the sweets of Maki Fairbanks’ native Japan. She started introducing custard buns, milk bread and jiggly cheesecake at The Enchanted Oven in 2019.

When it came to these lighter, fluffier goods unfamiliar to decadent American eaters, it wasn’t the positive reviews that stayed with her as much as the negative ones. Her daughter, Elissa, told us it was hard “watching some of the misery. … She loves making people happy, and that’s what keeps her going.”

We can be tough to please as Coloradans. Maybe that makes us worthy of Michelin.

But we can be easy to please, too.

An average plate of enchiladas, so long as the divers are diving. A bowl of green chili, a basket of something strange and fried. A burger, with more of that green chili, please. A peach, fuzzy and juicy.

Nothing fancy. Just right — something like home.